


And I Shall Conquer All Pt. 2

by Shane_for_Wax



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Gen, Shack aren't a focus but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 07:35:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29747148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: Shane gets revenge on another Cerberus agent responsible for a Thresher Maw attack, this one being from the first game's timeline-- the Kahoku's Men mission.
Relationships: Jack | Subject Zero/Female Shepard
Kudos: 2





	And I Shall Conquer All Pt. 2

Shane had gotten so busy again when it came to the war, that her personal vendetta against a single Cerberus operative had fallen to the wayside. She was sure that many people close to her would be happy to hear she hadn’t had a one track mind about Banes. Some things had to go before her need for revenge. Last time she had let everything else stay on the back burner to go after a single person, a scientist that had almost met his end at the hands of Toombs and decided that because he was ‘free’ that meant he was free from her own revenge, too many people had suffered. She had almost been too late to save Grunt, in fact. 

So, when she got a message from Miranda letting her know of a possible lead to Banes’ location, Shane had nearly found herself on the receiving end of a Phantom blade. With a reinvigorated shout, she used her omni-tool to form a blade that sliced clean through the Phantom’s throat. As the Phantom collapsed, bleeding out of the carotid and jugular, Shane pulled up the message. Knowing it was dangerous enough for Miranda to be doing the chasing of leads, Shane read through the message quickly before shooting off a brief ‘thanks for risking your life for this’. 

She was sending a quick message to Jack with the information when a Nemesis bolt slammed into her shield, staggering her slightly. She rolled her eyes at herself before training her Mattock on the sniper and taking it out in two perfect shots to the head-- one to bring down its shield and one to fling through its skull and out the other end. 

Message finally sent, Shane set off to finish the rest of her mission. Waiting for Jack to answer didn’t mean she couldn’t kill some Cerberus fucks on her own. 

The Commander was on her way back to the _Normandy_ when she got the message from Jack that simply read “Fuck yes”. 

It took a few hours for Shane to get back to the Normandy, and then another couple hours after that for the Normandy to dock on the Citadel. It was there Jack lived with her students (not sharing a place though, instead Jack used the apartment Anderson had "living willed" to Shane, after a bit of convincing from Shane that they should "live together" if Jack wasn't willing to stay on the Normandy).

Shane found Jack at the Armax Arena with her students gathered. They had just finished a training session and Jack appeared to be informing them she would be gone.

"Until I get back, and who fu--reaking knows when that will be, Rodriguez and Prangley are in charge. Prangley, stop smirking. You're just the most experienced next to Rodriguez," Jack was explaining.

"Commander on deck!" Rodriguez called out, half joking. The rest of the kids went along with the joke, straightening to attention. Jack rolled her eyes before turning to look at Shane.

"You're a great distraction, good thing we were done," Jack said, obviously joking as well.

"I do what I can. You ready?" Shane replied, smirking slightly.

"Hell yeah. Let's get to it!" Jack said with a nod.

Shane looked at the students gathered, all of them wearing duplicates of the dark red hoodie Shane sometimes wore in place of her N7 one. These red hoodies proclaimed the wearer to be part of the Grissom Academy Psychotic Biotic Training on the Move “program” on the front, and a plea to "if found return to Jack" on the back of the hoodies. Jack's of course read "I'm Jack" on the back, instead.

The vanguard was struck for a moment by how young these kids actually were. They were barely into puberty, most of them. But Shane also realized that both she and Jack had been even younger than them when their biotics had been coaxed to the surface with violence and pain. A ghost of a pained, guilty look crossed Shane’s face, fast enough that even Jack doubted she had actually seen it. A moment later Shane was smiling in that wolfish way she always got when the hunt was on.

“Let’s get to it,” she agreed. She looked at the kids again before turning and striding off, Jack following barely half a step behind. 

One thing that often happened when Shane went on missions with just Jack was that she forwent the fully customized N7 armor that she had slowly cobbled together after leaving Earth. Instead, Shane was barely in more than fatigues, with only strategic placement of armor plating for various weak points such as the torso. She felt it complemented the fact that Jack went into battle in barely more clothes than she was in when they first met, back when Shane was reluctantly flying Cerberus colors. 

They used to bicker about how Jack really should wear armor, any armor. But eventually Shane had realized she wasn’t going to convince Jack to wear armor, so if you can’t beat them join them. And anyways, Shane’s biotics were more than enough protection as it was and she was better able to use them outside of armor. Especially when she needed to use her Vanguard class abilities. 

Like a pair of alpha wolves, the biotic duo disembarked from the shuttle onto the planet that looked like it hadn’t seen any living creatures in centuries. Both biotics had a kind of bloodthirsty gleam in their eyes as they followed the coordinates on Shane’s omni-tool. The _Normandy_ was on the edge of the system, so as not to alert anyone who might be nearby to protect Banes. Next to that, Shane had been the one to pilot the shuttle, unable to bring herself to have Steve do it. He deserved some time off and besides he didn’t need to get involved in her personal vendetta. 

It took little time for them to find the compound, a building made of steel with no windows to speak of. It had at least two floors above ground, and who knew how many underground.

As they entered the compound they were both hit with the same thought: “This entire place _reeks_ of Cerberus.” At least they knew they were definitely on the right track. Together they wandered through the eerily empty hallways, similar to the compound where Jack had been forced to become Subject Zero. 

Deeper and deeper they went, and Shane was quite sure they were actually underground now. 

“Look who has decided to willingly enter my lair. Commander Shepard and her pet biotic, Subject Zero,” a voice suddenly spoke from all around them. They both knew it came from multiple speakers placed throughout the hallway but it still made them freeze in place. 

Shane’s biotics flared to life instantly, blue whisking around her limbs and her teeth grinding together in anger. The true surprise was having Jack instantly at her side, placing a hand surprisingly gentle on Shane’s cheek. 

“Hey. Not now. Don’t let him win before things even start,” Jack said, looking Shane directly in the eye. It was rare for Jack to be the voice of reason and because of that alone it caused Shane to release the activation of her biotic amp, letting them disappear with a crackle. She let out a sigh. 

“Right, we don’t even know if he’s here,” Shane admitted. She was still angry but she had learned as a child to tuck it away for later. So she did. 

“You’re so close to your prize, right? Come on down, Commander. I’ll put the kettle on,” Banes said, laughter burbling up seconds later. Shane growled low but did her best to let his taunts roll off her like rain off a duck’s back. 

“Don’t you fucking worry, we’ll be there soon enough, fucker!” Jack spat before continuing to walk down the hallway. Shane followed suit, struggling to keep a handle on her anger and thus her biotics. 

“I have to admit, I thought I’d see you here much sooner. I guess something _has_ changed since that fun adventure with Kahoku’s men,” Banes continued, and it was unclear if he could actually hear the two biotics speaking or not. 

Shane clenched her jaw again but kept her focus on the next few steps, and the steps after that, then around a corner. Deeper and deeper, further and further. He would get his soon. 

The Commander checked her omni-tool and noted that it estimated they were about half a mile underground by that point. Shaking her head, Shane turned another corner to be faced with a closed door that was also clearly locked and encrypted. The biotic pair stopped short, glaring at their newest impediment. 

“Whaddya think, can we rip it off its hinges, so to speak?” Shane asked, glancing at her lover. 

“Maybe if we work together. But he might just be expecting that,” Jack said, shrugging.

“Oh so you _have_ been learning to anticipate,” Shane said teasingly. Jack lightly punched the other woman’s shoulder with a muttered “shut up”. 

After a few moments of just staring at the door, Shane walked closer and activated her omni-tool. Jack stood where she had stopped, keeping an eye on the way they had come just in case it was an ambush. 

“Kasumi sent me a cracker a while back, never really had to use it, though. Give me a sec, gotta remember how to actually use it,” Shane said, chuckling internally. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just hurry it up, will ya?” Jack said with a scoff and an eye roll. 

Shane typed through the commands that Kasumi had taught her but frowned halfway through as the door gave her a giant red X after submitting the command to decrypt so she could then get to the unlock part.

“The fuck?” she muttered under her breath, trying the keystrokes again. She received another giant red X for her trouble and then a very loud klaxon began. It was enough to make her clap her hands over her ears (which had already been sensitive _before_ Project Lazarus and had only become even more so after). 

“Ohh, I’m afraid you didn’t pass the test, Commander,” Banes’ voice came through, able to be heard even over top the klaxon. 

“Shane--” Jack’s voice managed to pierce through the klaxon as well, but sounded oddly distorted. 

Shane spun around and her eyes widened as she saw Jack suspended in mid air as if she was floating from her biotics. But she knew it was actually a force field holding Jack in place.

“Let her _go!”_ Shane snarled, biotics roaring to life. 

“Subject Zero was never meant to be released to begin with. I’m just fixing the fuckup of my colleagues,” Banes said. The klaxon died away. 

“In case you fucking forgot, I’m here to get your head on a pike. All you’re doing is making sure I don’t make it happen too fast,” Shane said, voice suddenly turning deadly calm. She looked around the hallway before catching sight of the twin apparatuses in the upper corners, clearly creating the field keeping Jack suspended. Smiling inwardly, Shane aimed her biotics at both at the same time. The metal crumpled easily under pressure from her biotics. The field flickered then disappeared and Jack landed far more gracefully than Shane would have. 

“What? No! That wasn’t supposed to happen!” Banes shouted in outrage.

“Ohh, sorry, Banes, we’re not playing by your rule book. Now open the fucking door!” Shane said, sneering at what had to be a camera angled above the door. 

“I am not that easy to catch, Commander. You want in, you figure it out,” Banes said. 

Shane quietly aimed her pistol at the camera and fired twice. The shattered remains clattered to the floor like rain. 

“What was that about anticipating?” Jack asked, unable to not get the dig in.

“Oh, shush,” Shane said, shaking her head. “You’re fine, aren’t you?” 

“Let’s just figure out how to get in there, alright? This place is making my skin crawl enough as it is,” Jack said insistently. Shane had to admit she too did not feel at all comfortable in the compound, and not just because it was shockingly empty. 

Deciding that she wasn’t going to be able to get anywhere using more delicate, scalpel means, it simply meant she’d have to go ripping through things like a chainsaw. Or a tornado. Or simply a very pissed off biotic. 

“Well, let’s go with our first option, then. Rip the damn thing off,” Shane said. Her anger had been stoking the fires of her biotic control for some time. Though she would always admit Jack was the strongest human biotic, Shane was no slouch in that department either. Together, with the way their biotics interacted, they had found precious little could stand up to their might. 

And so, their biotics flickered to life. As they directed the independent tendrils towards the door, the usual sight of the slightly differently colored biotics twining ‘together’ and becoming brighter appeared. Despite how long biotics had been in the human population, nobody could say why exactly the biotics had different colors. The usual question of whether it denoted strength or gender had been dismissed. But it didn’t matter, so long as they worked as intended. 

With a resounding thump, the stream of biotics crashed into the door. With a simple thought, the stream flattened into a square shape and seeped into the little cracks of the rim of the door. Sufficiently covered in the biotic energy, both women yanked their hands back in unison. The door dimpled but did not get completely wrenched out of the jambs like expected.

Glaring at the door, they scarcely turned their heads to look at one another, instinctively knowing exactly how to proceed from here. 

As one, like two outraged Amazons, Shane and Jack _screamed_ as they put all of their power into their goal of removing the door from its hinges. In seconds, spiderwebs of cracks sprawled across the door. A loud shrieking sound of twisting, ripping metal joined their chorus of screams and the pulse of the activated biotics. With a roar of triumph, they again moved as one to _yank_ their biotic streams backward and thus ripped the door finally out of its place. They directed the door to fly over their heads and land behind them with a heavy screeching thud, then-- still almost eerily coordinated-- stalked forward. Both were breathing heavily from the strain but neither was willing to stop for even a moment to get their wind back. And if they had bothered to fully get a look at the removed door, or even felt it safe to look at the gap in the wall for more than a second to be sure of no trip wires, they would have noticed it was as thick as the two of them put together. The galaxy would have been hard pressed to find a singular biotic user who could do what they had done. And that was because they were so much stronger together than doing things separately or even delayed by more than a couple seconds. 

“You! Ruined! Everything!’ Banes screamed, eyes wild as he watched the biotic women stomping towards him. He held a pistol in one hand and his omni-tool was activated in the other. It was enough to make Shane stop for a moment before quickly returning to being directly at Jack’s side. 

“You and your entire organization are the ones to blame for this. If you hadn’t done what you did to either of us, well... we would be in very different places wouldn’t we?” Shane said. A growl rumbled in her throat as she saw him raise his gun. In the time it took to blink, her body had gone blue and she closed the distance shockingly fast. When he finally realized what had happened, one of her hands was clutching his wrist of the hand holding the gun while her other hand was wrapped around his throat. He gagged but could do nothing except twitch like a dying cockroach as she lifted him up solely by his neck and pure muscle strength. There was no need to use biotics to lift a man of his size. He was barely bulkier than Cortez or Joker. Certainly he was worth only half of Vega. 

“Yeah, _yeah_! You have-- guh-- _us_ to thank for all of this!” Banes choked out, punching the hand holding him up over and over but it was all in vain. She couldn’t feel any of the blows in the midst of her biotic and rage fueled act of revenge. 

Jack stood nearby, upper lip curled in her trademark sneer. She knew Shane needed to do this part alone. Just like Jack had needed to hit the trigger on the bomb alone. It wasn’t a lack of wanting the help, merely that some things must be done alone.

“Yes, where the fuck are my manners? Thank you. Thank you for releasing the rest of my biotic potential. Thank you for siccing Thresher Maws on me not once but twice. For no good fucking reason! Thank you for helping the legend of Commander Shepard become that much more grand. Thank you for not leaving well enough alone and bringing me back to fucking life. And thank you, for being epic fucking morons about this entire Reaper invasion. The only true way to save humanity is destroying the Reapers, not trying to be buddies with them. But you... you aren’t going to live to see me do the job I was brought back to _really_ do,” Shane said, voice growing louder then softer then louder again as she spoke. 

Biotics flickered around her then enveloped Banes as well. With a deep snarl, she flung him at a nearby wall. He collided with it with a resounding crack and crumpled. But he rolled over almost instantly and clambered back to his feet. When he did, there she was in half a blink of an eye and biotics whipping around her form as evidence of how she got there. This time she grabbed him by the front of his overly expensive shirt and stormed forward until she was pinning him up against a wall. He yelled out in pain, feeling his shoulders creaking as they were pressed into the solid metal and her fingers digging into him hard enough he could feel his skin break apart. 

“You and Leng and the Illusive Man... all of you pretend to be far more noble and powerful than you really are. But you’re nothing but little frightened pussies! I met the Reapers head on while you all stood back and decided control was the way to go. Well, look how fucking well things turned on when you tried to control me, to control Jack. Yes, _Jack_. Her _name_. The thing you tried so hard to erase by calling her Subject Zero. By calling her essentially nothing despite your goals.”

“I had nothing to do with the project on Teltin! Cerberus had nothing to do with it!”

“You lying fucker! Don’t pretend Cerberus didn’t bankroll that whole fucking thing!” Jack suddenly blurted, rage coloring every syllable. She speed walked forward but stopped short when Shane turned her head to lock eyes with the younger biotic. Shane’s own eyes were close to purple from the mix of cybernetic red and biotic blue. And the glow was _bright_. The look on her face was one that demanded Jack stay out of things. Jack had only seen that look before, when Shane had declined having Jack go with her when she went to track down the scientist who had nearly been murdered by Toombs.

Blood was starting to appear on the man’s shirt from where Shane’s biotically strengthened fingers had pulverized the skin. But she didn’t care. She was nowhere close to done. She released her hold on his front only so she could rip the shirt off of him. Casting a quick glance around she noted a solid metal desk nearby. A fancy one, holding a nice terminal and everything. With a sweep of her hand, a biotic field flung everything off of the desk. Then, with a grunt she flung the man up and onto the desk, face up. He yelled in pain again. The marks on his chest continued to bleed for a few moments but then clotted. 

After another quick glance, she used her biotics to yank a couple of lamps nearby. With further help from her biotics, she twisted the metal rods until she had him ‘tied’ to the table. One half loop kept his legs locked together and held firm against the desk. The other half loop took care of his arms. 

“Jack... I need you to sweep the compound,” Shane said, voice taking on an odd quality Jack had never heard before. 

“... _What?_ Shane, you know this place is empty!” Jack said, a tinge of confusion in her voice. 

“Just _do it_! ...Please,” Shane’s voice again changed to one of soft pleading. 

“Nothing you do to that guy will make me think differently of you, Shane,” Jack said, finally realizing what the older biotic was trying to do. 

“Heh, what’s the matter? Afraid to show you’re just a wild animal?” Banes laughed. He was rewarded with a swift punch to the temple, knocking him senseless but not unconscious. 

“I’ve killed a lot of people in my time. You know that, Shane.” 

“I know. But you shouldn’t be forced to see what I’m gonna do to ‘im. For everything.”

“I’m not being forced. I knew what you were likely to do when we caught him. Just... don’t drag it out too much. We got better shit to do than rip this guy to shreds in pieces parts.” 

Perhaps luckily for both of them, Shane had no interest in prolonging the torture. Nor did he need to suffer as much as the ones personally involved in Akuze had needed to suffer. Regardless...

Shane activated her omni-tool and used it to toggle music that came on loud and heavy. She then removed the real metal K-Bar knife she kept in a sheath on her thigh. Sure, she could’ve used an omni-blade but Traynor was right about needing to have the tactile sensation of a physical item in your grasp. 

“Do you know... what it’s like to be burned by thresher maw acid?” Shane asked, tracing the tip of the knife from the man’s jawline down his throat and along his sternum. He shuddered but not violently enough to make any difference. 

During Project Lazarus, the burn marks from the Kahoku mission had been ‘fixed’ by Miranda. But that didn’t mean the scar from the memory was no longer in Shane’s mind. She still had one of the burn marks from the Akuze incident, though. When Shane asked her question, Jack’s eyes had immediately gone to the part of Shane’s back where the acid had landed when the Alliance Marine had been running for her life back to the transport. Jack had first noticed it when they had had sex the first time. She hadn’t had the nerve to ask about it, if only because talking about her scars with people wasn’t her favorite thing to do so she figured the same was true of Shane. It had only been later, when Shane had woken up from a nightmare, that Jack had gotten the story of the burn scars. Shane had another one on the back of her dominant hand, part of it healed from Project Lazarus.

Biotics rippled down Shane’s arm and enveloped the knife. Using a technique she had been working on for a decade, the blade of the knife began to glow red hot. 

“Y-you can’t do this! It’s against everyth--” Banes began saying, eyes widening. He stopped speaking to instead scream, a high pitched squeal really, as Shane pressed the flat of the blade against the man’s collar bone. The smell of burning flesh flooded the immediate area. Neither Shane nor Jack reacted to scent or scream. With a twitch, Shane flipped the blade to instead press the point into the flesh and stagger around the man’s chest. Angry red streaks appeared and the man kept screaming. 

“You see... it burns.. and it keeps on burning... nothing puts the burn out. It’s like the strength of a thousand ghost peppers but on your skin. Not even the burn creams we got out there helps,” Shane explained, raising her voice to be heard over his shrieks. 

Any other person on the Normandy would be horrified. Shane was breaking so many Alliance regulations it was dizzying. It was not the first ‘mission’ that would never even be written down by Shane. The only witness would be Jack, and Jack would never say a word. Not when it came to Cerberus assholes getting theirs. 

“I... got burned and kept burning for days. And that is nothing to what I did to your colleague. The man responsible for Akuze, remember him? Remember how I actually kept him from being murdered by the only other survivor? He would’ve stayed alive if he hadn’t tried to flee. He was _safer_ in an Alliance prison!” Shane snarled, pressing the knife in deep against the man’s hand in a mimic of the partially gone burn scar on her own hand. His scream coincided with a giant crash of sound that faded as the man began to sob. 

The rock music changed to a song full of deep, long thrums. Which then turned into short ones. Before eventually a giant splash of sound then a crescendo. As the music changed, so did Shane’s position. She moved around until she was situated next to the man’s hip. 

“We weren’t responsible--” Banes tried to say again. Shane snarled wide, showing teeth that for a moment looked far too sharp. And made it clear exactly why she had morphed into the Wolf of the Alliance rather than the junkyard ganger dog of Earth. Then, she slammed the knife all the way into the hilt into the man’s thigh. Another echo of one of Shane’s injuries at the ‘hands’ of thresher maws. The only difference being Cerberus had actually not been involved in that one. The only one dealing with thresher maws that had not been related to Cerberus (curing the Genophage on Tuchanka notwithstanding). 

The music softened, almost dissonantly so. Banes was panting and sobbing, and it was clear he was not the badass he thought himself to be. He was even starting to have snot dribbling from his nose. Blood dripped to the floor, forming multiple puddles. 

“You know, if you had used the pronoun ‘I’ instead, I might have been inclined to believe it. You weren’t responsible for Akuze but... You _were_ responsible for Kahoku’s men. Your colleagues were damn sure responsible for Akuze. You see, for a scientist you Cerberus lot are really fucking stupid! Your colleague, knowing I was there to take his fucking ass out of the gene pool, was still backing shit up on his own personal omni-tool. I know you know that I essentially stopped his heart with a shock baton which also fried his omni-tool. But he didn’t delete everything on the terminals. He had _proof_. Proof he kept for years! And probably opened the files every once in a while to gloat about how before Commander Shepard became _the_ Commander Shepard ohhh he proved she can bleed like all the rest.”

Shane glanced over at Jack, who was watching in silence. It felt completely opposite to Jack’s usual demeanor. She was almost starting to regret bringing the younger biotic. She didn’t need to see this. 

Taking in a breath, Shane looked back at her prey. She then removed the knife only to shift her point of entry to the side of his leg. With a little biotic help, she jammed it into his leg just below his knee. Even Jack heard the crack as the bone shattered. This seemed to be too much for Banes to handle and he passed out cold. Shane growled low to herself, shaking her head. She wasn’t done just yet. Not yet. 

Shane locked eyes with Jack, who stayed quiet. The Commander then found a medkit nearby hanging on the wall. The box itself was rusted slightly but everything inside was fine. She hadn’t bothered bringing her own medigel with her, knowing these facilities had plenty of it. Even if it was abandoned or supposedly abandoned. 

The music changed once more, this time with a soaring crescendo that gave way to a drumbeat. Shane applied the medigel, only enough to bring him back around to consciousness. He yelled in pain as soon as his brain defogged. 

What Shane _had_ brought with her had been a vial of acid. It wasn’t thresher acid, but it was just as good. She had found it among Mordin’s effects he had left behind in the med bay and Chakwas had nearly had a heart attack seeing Shane messing with it. 

Smiling, Shane wagged the vial a little in front of the man’s nose. He seemed to recognize it and his eyes widened. 

“You won’t get away with this, Shepard! Wait until the galaxy knows what the Hero of the Citadel does--”

Shane punched his throat, making him gag and cough unable to keep talking.

“Your colleague said the same shit, you know? What, you two brothers or something? It doesn’t matter. It does _not_ matter. Because, see, I was part of the Reds back on Earth. Yeah, big surprise to you, right? I took care of that part of my history too, back on the Citadel when I was making waves after Eden Prime. I took care of your colleague. I’m taking care of you. Leng will get his, and so will the Illusive Man. And not a single _fucking_ person will care when all is said and done because they know exactly what Cerberus has been doing. And ironically, what I’m doing to you is not at all close to what you fucks have been doing to fellow humans. What I’m doing is not close to what you Cerberus assholes have done to me, or Jack, or anyone.”

“Shane--” Jack said, stepping forward. 

“What?” Shane snapped then took in a breath. “What, Jack?” 

The music was barely audible now, a soft whispering thing. 

“The asshole here sent out a distress signal. Don’t know when exactly. But Joker says EDI picked up a few ships coming into the system, bearing Cerberus markings. We don’t have a lot of time if we want to get out of here without a fight.”

“What, you don’t want a fight today?” Shane asked, raising a brow. 

“You fucking know I always want one, but...” Jack said, before reaching out and grabbing Shane by the wrist. Shane looked at Banes for a moment before letting Jack lead her over to a corner nearby. 

“Listen, I’m not that Chambers bitch or anything but I don’t think you’re in the right frame of mind to fight a battle. We can fight some more Cerberus assholes any other day. But you need to finish with this fucker and then we need to leave,” Jack said, in a rough whisper. 

Ironically, Shane knew shit was serious when Jack was being the voice of reason... for the second time that day. The music changed to an almost triumphant score, a symphonic metal tune. 

“Yeah, alright. I’m almost done anyways,” Shane said, sighing. She kissed Jack’s forehead gently and lightly brushed her thumb across a cheekbone made to look sharper than it was through Jack’s usual use of makeup (in direct contrast to Shane’s general idea of going without as much as possible). Jack nodded then turned her attention back to her omni-tool where a map of the system displayed the Normandy along with the Cerberus ships making their way to the planet.

Shane walked back over to Banes, who had turned even paler than he’d been when they first arrived. Smirking, Shane engaged her omni-tool just as the music began to swell again. The omni-blade composed itself from spare bits then she used it to slice open part of the man’s shirt. She ripped the rest of it open all the way after accounting for the ‘restraints’.

“C-commander, surely we can come t-to some agreement?” Banes stammered, wheezing softly through what had to be a broken nose and a swollen throat. Shane had to admire his refusal to admit that he was dead meat on a slab. 

“The only agreement available is that you shut the fuck up and let me finish the damn job,” Shane snarled. 

“Please, please-- that isn’t necessary! It isn’t--” Banes stopped talking to instead give an inhuman and unholy screech of pain as Shane tipped the vial over and allowed some of the acid to splatter on the man’s chest. Some of it landed on the restraint. It ate through both skin and metal at an almost alarming pace. And Banes just... kept... screaming. Even when the acid ate through the layer of fat and muscle to go after the bones. When it did, Shane noticed the beginnings of Reaper tech. Her eyes narrowed. She dumped the rest of the acid into the already rather large hole in the man’s torso. Only when the acid met internal organs did the screaming stop. And coincidentally, the song ended on a single cymbal crash after a steady rhythm of drums. 

Shane took one of the grenades off her hip. She activated it with a simple squeeze then dropped it right into the hole the acid had made. She looked at Jack and nodded when Jack looked back. The pair exited the office, clearing the doorway as the grenade went off and made sure the body had been turned into mince meat and nigh unrecognizable save for a biological scan. 

As they turned a corner, Shane activated her omni-tool. The music turned off. Shane looked at Jack and laughed softly. 

“Let’s head back and prep for the next Cerberus hunt,” she said.

Jack chuckled despite herself then nodded. 

“Sounds good to me, Hero of the Citadel,” she remarked teasingly. Shane sighed and rolled her eyes. 

“I hate it when people call me that,” she muttered. Her words only caused Jack to laugh, which echoed throughout the corridors and followed them out of the compound.

\-------------------------------

“You know, I am glad for Cerberus doing one thing,” Jack said, quietly, when they finally returned to the Captain’s Cabin on the _Normandy_.

“What’s that?” Shane asked, puzzled. 

“Bringing you back to life. Having us meet. I know we don’t really talk about it much. But... with all the shit happening you deserve to know.”

Shane was quiet a while before smiling. She tugged Jack into her arms and kissed her, deeply yet with a gentleness that was rare. She held the smaller woman close when the kiss broke.

“Yeah... you’re right. That is one thing I am grateful for. Meeting you. Being with you through it all. I know you hate it when things get mushy but, I’m not sure where I’d be without you,” Shane said, lightly resting her forehead on Jack’s. 

Jack chuckled, in that way that almost sounded like purring. 

“Who knew Commander Shepard had a soft and gooey side?” she teased. 

“Oh shut up, asshole.”

“ _Bitch_!” 

Shane snorted before kissing the woman again and dragging her over to the bed. It was time to celebrate a job well done.


End file.
